The more I write, the more I realize how much I need to learn about writing. The more I write, the more unprepared I feel. It's a bad downward cycle, and I feel trapped in it.

So, in the interests of learning what sells, I read three category romance novels today. (Yeah, okay - they were all under 200 pages. And yeah, I read fast. So sue me.) One was by a newcomer - it blew me away, it was that good. The other two were by old-timers - one felt like it was filling up time, the other was better written, but neither could match the first one.

I'm meant to be analyzing them - what nuances they have, etc - and incorporate those types of things into my novels. It goes back to what my Dad did when he decided to write westerns - he read a gajillion of them, and took notes. That's what I've got to do, if romances are the kind of books I want to write.

If those aren't the kinds of books I want to write, then I'm really floundering on a sea of confusion.

Was at Barnes & Noble today, and saw Stephen King's book 'On Writing' on the sale table for $5.98 - so I snapped it up, as Jenn had mentioned how good it was. So now I'm going to read it and see if maybe that can break me out of my funk.

I so don't want to go to Rome feeling like a failure.